Iredell-Statesville School officials plan to maintain program that provided computers to many students and blended learning.

Federal funding is running out for a program that provided many students in Iredell-Statesville Schools with laptops and a tailored approach to learning. District officials say they will keep it going.

Charlotte Mecklenburg School leaders hope to get a bond referendum on the ballot soon. This week they laid out about $2 billion worth of building, renovation and maintenance projects on their to-do list. It’s up to county commissioners to decide on the timing of a bond package and what fraction of that is pressing enough to put before voters.

CMS officials have begun drafting guidelines for how the district will draw new school attendance zones. The

student assignment process will be designed to address several goals, including reducing the number of schools that have high concentrations of poor and high-needs children. A new study could give CMS leaders another point to consider.

CMS board members finally have goals to help guide the student assignment process. They aren’t much different than the ones they drafted last month. The goals include reducing concentrations of poverty in schools.

The majority of CMS students are of color, 71 percent, but only a third of the districts' teachers are non-white, which some studies show can affect achievement.

Correction Appended

Learning is about making connections – not just between, say, a math concept and its real-life applications—but between teachers and students. Race sometimes gets in the way of that. In CMS, most teachers are white but most students are African-American or Latino. The district is trying to recruit more teachers of color, but it’s not easy-going.

CMS board members decided Tuesday night to extend Superintendent Ann Clark’s contract another year until they can hire a new superintendent. That decision came after a long day for the board that illustrated just how much they have to juggle. They got an earful from county commissioners and also from the public anxious about what a new student assignment plan may mean.

Crossroads and Kennedy charter schools in Charlotte will close at the end of this school year. The State Board of Education made that decision Thursday. The board also approved a revised annual report on charters after the Lieutenant Governor deemed it too negative last month. And board members hired a new director to oversee the office of charter schools.

Central Piedmont Community College will have a new president for the first time in more than two decades. Tony Zeiss, who led the college through a period of significant growth, announced his retirement yesterday.

CMS board members agreed over the weekend that they should begin the search for a new superintendent. They just couldn’t decide when that search should begin. The disagreement is whether they can work on a student assignment plan, while also trying to find someone to lead the district.